Rexus ~ Chapter 23!

Merry Christmas Everyone! As my present to you, one chapter a day til Friday, when the book will be sent to you!  <3

Jess and Jaxon were making good time through the forest. Now that they knew the general direction they should be going, they were able to move over the terrain much faster. The two of them had made an official party now that Jaxon’s quest had been completed and had been working to test their new capabilities. Jess had armed herself once more with sharp claws taken from the rampaging primates and was at least able to deal some damage in the recent battles. 

While they were sitting to recover from a small fight, Jaxon started looking over his skills and stat sheet. His new class seemed to be intentionally difficult to understand, so he was trying to figure out how everything interacted. He hadn’t been able to re-summon his Living Weapons, but the only change he noticed when the skill went up in rank was a small reduction to its cooldown, a very small reduction. The thirty-minute cooldown had turned into a twenty-nine point seven-nine cooldown. That was only a… point two-five-five reduction per level!

The Mana cost had moved from fifty a second to forty-five per second, but he wasn’t sure if that was due to the skill level or the disposition aspect of things. He pulled open his character sheet and took a look at his current stats.

Name: Jaxon ‘Legend’ Class: Bonecruncher

Profession: Chiropractor

Bonecruncher Level: 1 Exp: 0 Exp to next level: 1,000

Level: 12 Exp: 78,026 Exp to next level: 12,774

Hit Points: 425/440 (50+(380)) (Base 50 plus 10 points for each point in Constitution, once it has increased above 10.)

Mana: 337.5/337.5 (12.5 mana per point of Intelligence.)

Mana regen: 9 (Wisdom multiplied by .25 mana regen per second)

Stamina: 415/565 (50+(315)+(190)) (Base 50 plus 5 points for each point in strength and constitution, once each of the stats has increased above 10.)

Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

Strength: 74 (2.24)

Dexterity: 101 (3.01)

Constitution: 49 (1.49)

Intelligence: 27 (1.27)

Wisdom: 36 (1.36)

Charisma: 6 (0.06)

Perception: 22 (1.22)

Luck: 46 (1.46)

Karmic Luck: +2

Not a huge amount had changed, but when the page came up, he noticed that a new tab had been added. He opened it and was given a stat sheet for his living weapons!

Name: Lefty and Terror Class: Living Weapons

Level: 1 Exp: 175 Exp to next level: 825

Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

Strength: 37 (1.37)

Dexterity: 50 (2.0)

Intelligence: 13 (1.13)

Wisdom: 18 (1.18)

Perception: 33 (1.33)

The stat sheet was simpler than his own, which made sense. The weapons didn’t have their own health pool; they were his hands. They also didn’t have mana or stamina of their own, using Jaxon’s to operate. There was a small section under the stats that vanished after he read it, but luckily, it had been easy to understand.

Statistics are calculated as: User’s stats divided by two, plus one point per two levels for every stat except Perception, which gains three points per two levels. Living Weapon’s level cannot exceed user’s own character level.

Jaxon looked at his own stats then the weapon’s and dropped his head between his knees. His hands had better perception than he did—by a full ten points. Jess shook his arm, beckoning for him to rise. “We need to keep moving, Jaxon. Night is going to fall in a few hours, and I have no interest in getting out of this forest the wrong way.”

“I was just looking over the stats for my new skills, didn’t mean to go off into my own world there!” Jaxon popped to his feet, and they began trudging toward their goal, the Wolfman outpost. They only had a solid day of travel left, having worked out a more direct path than the one they had arrived on. 

Night has arrived in the forest of trials. Doubling the number of predatory monsters in the zone. Good luck on your survival!

“Do you think we took too long of a break there?” Jess questioned as they hurried along their chosen path, slowed only by the need to go around any trees in their way.

“If we somehow did take too long of a rest, would it help us in any way to ruminate on it?” Jaxon tossed a response at her, and she went silent for a few minutes as she thought about it. The silence stretched long enough that Jaxon was actually starting to feel comfortable around her. 

Then she started to speak, “I guess not? Maybe that is my real issue in life. I always think on the things that I did instead of the things I want to or should do.” 

Jess paused and licked her lips. “I guess wisdom comes with age, huh?”

“That’s not wisdom. That’s common sense, or at least, it was. The past is the past, the present is gone, and the future is all we have.” Jaxon grinned about his revised sayings. “You think that your past is what has been holding you back? Or… would you like it to be what is holding you back so that you have an excuse not to try?”

“Excuse me?” Jess raised her brows and dared Jaxon to continue speaking.

“Done!” Jaxon nodded at her words. “All is forgiven, then. From what I have seen, you have some talent as a tactician. It’s unrefined, and I think you freeze up mid-combat. Either that or you are really quiet. You have admitted that this is what interests you. What is stopping you from applying to one of the big guilds and getting training and experience?”

“Nothing, now!” Jess quipped, hoping that playing this off would make Jaxon go silent so she could focus on running. “You’re bringing me on!”

“Yes, yes, but before that you were planning to settle into a guild you didn’t like, doing things you didn’t like, with people that are pretty unlikeable.” Jaxon had a concerned look on his face when she dared to look over. “Again, you have a talent that many people don’t have, but you seem like you’d rather not even try. What can I do to help you? Here or in real life, there will always be someone willing to take a stand for you, even if you don’t believe it.”

Jess shook her head. “Jaxon, I lost a dagger that is currently unique to the guild of player killers. I might be safe from them in the middle of a huge guild, but there are going to be times when I am alone or my group is small enough to be taken down. Unless I figure out a way to replace the dagger, I’m going to be blacklisted for a long time, and they have plenty of money for setting up bounties, legal or not.”

“Fine, I’ll buy out your debt. What will it take?” Jaxon rolled his eyes when she shook her head.

“It’s not that easy. They won’t accept money, not for this.” Jess glared at Jaxon. “I’m serious! The dagger is an item that lets you loot a player when you kill them with it, and it can only be gained in a really dangerous area that the guild either owns or is the only group to know it’s location. Going through that area and getting your own dagger is the only way to join the guild, and I lost the one that had been loaned to me for my mission. Now I would need to go through it and give up my reward weapon just to get off their blacklist. They’d still hate me, though.”

“I’ll ask the Wolfmen for the dagger when we get back. Alternatively, what if we both went through and gave up the dagger? Then they are getting out more than they put in and would have no reasonable complaint against you.” Jaxon smiled at her shocked expression; it was a nice shift.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that. I told you, the area is super dangerous. Also, apparently, if you don’t make it through there you can never attempt it again.” Jess’s eyes were on the darkening forest ahead of her as she spoke. “You can only go back if you clear the place every time you go through it. If we screwed it up…”

“Good thing we are getting all this practice working together, huh?” Jaxon’s eyes were bright, and his maniacal smile even made Jess’s lips twitch. “I’ll go if you will let me, and then you’ll have no excuses for working to become a powerhouse in my guild. Deal?”

“I guess it’s a deal.” Jess waited for a notification, a quest or something to pop up at her. Jaxon had just seemed so Noble and sincere, so it was a little disappointing that she only had his word and not a system assurance. She shook that thought off; at least he was trying.

Ah-whooo! The hunting call of the Trial Primates sounded near them, confirming that they had been found and another fight was on the way.

As the first of the Primates broke stealth to attack Jaxon, he laughed and retaliated. He activated Living Weapons and struck back with a T-Rex head hand, “Guess what came off cooldown? Looks like meat is on the menu, boys! Eat up!”

“Craw!”

“Nyah!”